


Through the Dark

by MurkyMuse



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, and Apollo-worthy poetry, and phobias, dealing with insecurities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 05:44:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7254880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurkyMuse/pseuds/MurkyMuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s pitch-black in here...”</p>
<p>“Is the sun baby scared of the dark?” Nico’s tone was a mix of surly teasing and subtle concern. </p>
<p>Will thought about it for a moment. He didn’t like his loss of vision but, with their legs tied together, their hips and elbows kept bumping. Finding the contact to be reassuring, Will leaned closer and slung an arm across Nico’s shoulders.</p>
<p>“Nah, I’m with the Lord of Darkness after all.”</p>
<p> (Or Nico and Will’s adventure during the three-legged death race through the Labyrinth.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to OMGitsgreen for writing the Apollo-worthy poem that appears in this.

All the duos had gathered for the three legged death race. Will was fidgeting with the strap of his quiver; he’d been reluctant to bring a bow but Nico and Kayla had ganged up on him. His leg was tied to Nico’s, who carried his Stygian sword on his back so it wouldn’t get in the way.

The son of Hades radiated the sort of casual self-assurance that only the most powerful and experienced demigods possessed. Moments like these made Will feel just a tiny bit unworthy to stand beside his boyfriend. Only the recollection that Nico was also an idiot who would run himself into the ground if someone didn’t stop him squished Will’s insecure thoughts.

“Here’s the deal.” Harley bounced up and down like the overexcited child he was as he began explaining the rules. “Each team has to find three golden apples, then get back to this meadow alive.”

Apollo whined in the distance about how golden apples were always a terrible idea. Will didn’t disagree with his father’s sentiment and let out a long-suffering sigh. It was one of many in just the past few minutes.

“And I’m going to be the one patching everyone up after this.”

Nico patted his arm consolingly.

An argument over how the winner would be chosen then broke out between Harley and the Nike twins. It farther devolved when Paolo began complaining about not being allowed to kill people. Or at least that’s what it sounded like he was doing. As always the language barrier made it impossible to understand more than the general gist.

“Now, now!” Chiron called, bringing a stop to the fussing. “We won’t need any help making this a dangerous challenge. Let’s have a good clean three-legged death race. And another thing, campers, given the problems our test group had this morning, please repeat after me: _Do not end up in Peru_.”

“Do not end up in Peru.” Everyone repeated.

Nico leaned a little closer, his breath tickling Will’s neck. “We’re going to Peru.”

“Nico”, Will hissed as Chiron glanced over at them like he _knew_.

“So where is the starting line?” Sherman asked, cracking his knuckles.

Harley grinned gleefully, “There is no starting line. You’re all starting from right where you are.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh no, what?”

Lines etched across the grass and formed a giant green checkerboard.

“This”, Nico answered.

At the same time Harley cheered, “Have fun!”

Then the ground opened wide and swallowed the campers. Will would later deny that the shrill scream was his.

They landed with thud. Will winced and did a quick mental check over for injuries. He was surprisingly fine, not even the slightest hint of bruising.

“You okay, Nico?”

“Yeah”, he replied as he scrambled to stand up, forcing Will to follow the action so he didn’t trip, “I softened our landing a little.”

The tunnel they’d fallen in smelled of musty earth and rotting wood. It was dark too, filled with grey and black shadows. Will could barely tell the difference between the walls, the path, and his boyfriend by their varying shades of gloom.    

“It’s pitch-black in here...”

“Is the sun baby scared of the dark?” Nico’s tone was a mix of surly teasing and subtle concern.

Will thought about it for a moment. He didn’t like his loss of vision but, with their legs tied together, their hips and elbows kept bumping. Finding the contact to be reassuring, Will leaned closer and slung an arm across Nico’s shoulders.

“Nah, I’m with the Lord of Darkness after all.”

Nico elbowed him in the ribs, sharp and bony but without much force it didn’t hurt. Will got the hint and let him out of the embrace (for now).

“What is with you and terrible nicknames?”

“You just called me ‘sun baby’.”

“I have to retaliate somehow”, Nico replied before motioning a hand and tugging their legs forward, “Let’s go this way.”

Matching their strides proved to be a challenge but after a few minutes and annoyed mutters later they fell into a steady pace. To fill the eerie quiet of the Labyrinth, Will started to hum. He was far from the most musically inclined of his siblings (that was Austin) and his voice wasn’t that great but he always found music to be relaxing. Before he realized it, he was softly singing an old favorite that seemed rather appropriate considering their location.

“Dance magic, dance. Dance magic, dance. Jump magic, jump~”

“What are you singing?” Nico asked with a nudge of his arm.

“You don’t know?!” Will gasped as if it was a terrible offense.

“Should I?” It was too dark to tell if Nico had rolled his eyes but Will was certain he had.

“It’s from the Labyrinth, only one of the best things to come out of the Eighties.”

“I’m pretty sure I spent the Eighties playing duck hunt and pinball.”

“I can’t believe it. You missed David Bowie as the Goblin King!”

“David Bowie?”

“ _David Bowie_.”

“Do you have a crush on him or something?” Nico asked.

“Everyone had a crush on David Bowie at some point”, Will stated like it was an undeniable fact. They were nearing a fork; both darkened paths seemed identical to Will. “You’re the underground and Labyrinth expert here so which way?”

“Hmph.” Was the son of Hades reply as he lead to the right.

Will frowned. “Okay. Do we need to talk about this jealousy thing?”

“I’m not jealous…”

“So you don’t have a problem with me looking in Paolo’s general direction or that I had a crush on a celebrity when I was younger?”

“It’s not-”

Both his words and his feet came to a sudden stop. Will got one step farther before realizing why.

Just down the tunnel, at a point where two paths crossed, was the golden glow of an apple that brightened the murky dark of the Labyrinth. Standing directly across from them and about an equal distance from the fruit was Chiara and Damien. The two couples stared at each other for a brief moment before suddenly dashing forward. The Nemesis and Tyche pair began to close in on the prize faster.

Up until skeletal hands broke through the ground and clung onto their ankles. Chiara and Damien tumbled down in a mess of limbs and yelping. Will and Nico awkwardly sprinted forward, the son of Apollo scooping up the golden apple in his hands.

Nico grinned. In the twilight born of the apple’s glow and the Labyrinth’s crawling shadows, it was a smile not unlike the Cheshire Cat vanishing with only his grin left behind to be the crescent moon.

“Credo che la fortuna non era dalla vostra parte oggi, Benvenuti!”

Chiara made a very rude gesture and started ranting back in Italian, while Damien struggled to hack away at the skeleton hands holding them down.

The son of Hades just let out a laugh that echoed through the tunnels, ethereal and haunting. It was a rare sound that’s memory had on more than one occasion kept Will up late into the night. This time, however, that laugh was cut short by the sound of a click.  

“Trap!”

Cannonballs with sparking fuses rained from the ceiling. Nico shoved Will out of the way before one could hit them. Then they darted down the right pathway.

“The cannonballs are following us!”

Not wanting to see firsthand what would happen when the flames reached the end of the fuse, Nico grabbed Will’s arm and pulled him into the shadows. The familiar sensations of stretching and pulling and rush of space enveloped them.

They reappeared in another section of tunnels. The air was drier; and, when they slumped against the wall, it was stone brick instead of earth.

Will let the dizziness wash over before speaking, “A little warning next time would be nice.”

“Sure”, Nico promised with a wave of his hand. It wasn’t a very reassuring promise.

Will sighed fondly and set the golden apple in the space between their feet. Its dim glow lit their surroundings and revealed their faces. Nico’s skin had turned a shade lighter than its normal pale olive; a sign that his blood sugar was plummeting. His head lolled to the side and settled on Will’s shoulder. Frowning, Will dug through his first aid kit for a stick of medical gum.

Nico pulled a disgusted face when he saw it. “That gum is gross.”

“It’ll keep you from collapsing on me.”

Nico rolled his eyes but obliged by taking the gum. After a few minutes, Will re-opened the can of worms.

“So let’s finish that conversation.”

“Your medical gum works wonders”, Nico said in a rush and started to stand up, “I’m ready to go find the next apple.”

“Nico.” Will grabbed his hand and pulled him back down. “Talk to me.”

“It’s just…I’m not…” The son of Hades huffed and glanced away, refusing to look him in the eyes. “I look like death warmed over.”

Will stared as the words and the meaning behind them sank it. Then, a little hesitantly, he cupped Nico’s cheek in his hand. When Nico didn’t pull away, he began talking.

“Anyone and everyone would look like death warmed over after literally clawing out of Tartarus and then nearly fading out of existence. But that was six months ago…And I could compose poetry about how beautiful you are. No one else has ever made me want to write poetry about them.”

Red bloomed across Nico’s pale cheeks, spreading down his neck and up to the tips of his ears.

“Please don’t. You’re a terrible poet.”

Will dropped his hand and pouted in an over-exaggerated manner. “You’ve never even heard any of my poems.”

“It is a well-known fact that the actual god of poetry is terrible at poetry.”

“Don’t say that in front of my Dad. You’ll make him sad. And then Austin and I will have to curse you to speak in rhyme.”

“I’ll try to avoid that.”

Despite the dryness of his tone, Nico cracked another smile. This one was softer, shyer than the one just a few minutes before. Gods, Will loved it when Nico smiled.

Just because Nico said not to, he cleared his throat before speaking in a sing-song rhythm.  

_"Precious Prince of night,_

_the one who is my guiding light,_

_fortune and favor melts quickly as mist,_

_so bless upon me now your most capricious kiss."_

Nico half-heartedly punched his arm instead.

“You clearly inherited your father’s talent with words.”

"That's not the only talent I inherited", Will replied with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Nico’s face went beet red. Then Nico punched his arm. Again.

“I am questioning the choices in my life that led me to have my leg tied to yours while we’re stuck in the middle of the Labyrinth.”

Will’s laugh bounced off the brick and stone. Once he’d stifled his giggles, Nico grabbed his hand and pulled him up. It was a bit unfair that the son of Hades was short and skinny yet could pull him around with ease.  

“Come on, Shakespeare-wannabe. We have another golden apple to find.”

“Two.”

“Right.”

They continued through the maze of tunnels, the light of the apple making it easier to navigate. Silence descended on them. It was a comfortable, companionable quiet.

Slowly the brick walls became natural stone. The tunnel widened into a cavern of reddened earth. Pale stalactites hung from the ceiling like icicles, water drip-dripping to the cave floor. More so than when they were in the presumably man-made pathways, Will felt a sense of apprehension as if he were trespassing somewhere he didn’t belong.  

“Over there.”

Nico pointed a hand toward the entrance of one of the shadowed cavern offshoots. Sure enough, there gleamed a golden apple. They jogged over to claim it.

However, just as Will had put the apple his bag, a snake-like monster slithered from the cave. Dark green scales glistered with deadly poison. Sparks of fire flickered on its breath. It was large for its kind, easily as long as a man was tall. Its silted eyes peered directly at the son of Apollo.

A breath hitched in Will’s throat as he instinctually shuffled backward, attempting to hide behind his shorter companion.

“You know how Athena’s children are afraid of spiders”, he wheezed, voice on the edge of hysteria, “Well, it’s a little known fact, except to the children of Apollo, that basilisks are related to _the Python_.”

“Schist.” Nico said as he drew his nightmare black sword.

The basilisk sprang forward, the spikes around its neck sticking up and flames spewing from its mouth. In a jerking motion, Nico pulled Will from the line of fire. They circled around in an attempt to escape. However, the basilisk twisted its serpentine body; its glinting eyes bored into the son of Apollo.

Will went completely rigid, paralyzed like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Nico wondered if the false belief of basilisks being able to kill with their gaze alone had come from their apparent ability to freeze children of Apollo with fear.  

Just as it lunged again, Nico yanked Will to the side. They tumbled and rolled to the ground, the heat of its flames licking at their feet.

“ _Hades_ , it’s definitely targeting you!”

Nico slammed his palm on the ground. The cavern floor rumbled and cracked open as he called forth bones from the depths of the Labyrinth. Human and non-human bones alike rose up and flew toward the basilisk. It sputtered and hissed, knocking some away, but was soon entrapped by a skeletal cage.

Not pleased with the new arrangement, the monster flailed and spat fire. The sulfuric smell of its poison wafted in the air as the bones began to dissolve.

“There’s no way we’re getting close enough for me to deliver the final blow. I’m not sure I can keep it trapped and summon a skeleton warrior at the same time either”, Nico said, his voiced strained and frustrated.

If only his power and stamina had fully recovered! Wasn’t six months enough?! Or if it was just him, then Nico would risk it. Risk getting close to kill it. Risk a summoning. It didn’t matter which way. He’d do it without a thought.

However, he wasn’t alone. He couldn’t take risks lightly. Not when this beast was targeting Will first and foremost.

He turned to Will, his heart twisting at the sight of his boyfriend wide-eyed and shaking like a leaf. Nico pressed his hands on Will’s shoulders like heavy weights and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Will, you’re going to have to put that bow to use.”

Will gaped like a fish. “I can’t- I’m not an archer like Kayla or-”

“Between me and you, you’re the better shot!”

Something snapped into place at that declaration. Will was still terrified but the forced calm he’d gained as head medic, cabin counselor, and surviving two wars resurfaced. He clenched his fists, stilling his quaking hands like he was preparing to do his first surgery all over again. Will was a healer before archer; just as Kayla was an archer before healer and Austin a musician before either. But healer, archer, and musician – they all required steady hands.

The son of Apollo reached for his bow and an arrow from his quiver. He shifted stance while notching the arrow. Beside him, Nico struggled to keep the basilisk trapped, beads of sweat running down his face. Will realized he’d get two, maybe three shots at this.

Will aimed at the thrashing monster, finding a spot on its body that he could feasibly hit. He then let loose the arrow. It flew true and would have struck if not for the wave of flames disintegrating it. That was okay; Will figured it would happen and already had another arrow ready.

The second arrow hit off center but that was good enough. The basilisk fell limp with the arrow lodged in its head and then exploded into dust. The cage of bones crumbled and scattered across cavern floor.

“I…killed a _basilisk_.”

He looked almost disbelievingly at Nico, who nodded and wrapped the son of Apollo in a hug.

“You did well. Kayla and Austin will be impressed when we tell them.”

Will let out a hiccupped laugh and buried his head in the crux of Nico’s neck, not caring that he had to slump to do so. His boyfriend’s hands ran soothingly through his hair as he mumbled calming nonsense into Will’s ear. Only when his breathing and heartrate had returned to normal did Will pull away.

“So, ah, one more apple to go.”

Nico smirked – a secretive smirk that made Will’s heart race all over again – and grabbed his hand. Then they vanished into shadows for a second time.  

They reappeared in yet another cave-like tunnel. Even as Will suffered from the disorienting effects, he glanced over to check on Nico. The son of Hades’ shoulders were slumping with exhaustion but he didn’t look like he was about to pass out, at least not yet. Once Will could was recovered enough, he turned towards Nico with a lecture on his lips.

“I asked you to warn me. And you shouldn’t be shadow-traveling so soon after the last one anyway! That was unnecessary and reckless, Nico!”

Nico merely shrugged. “It was the only way I knew how to get back here.”

Will blinked in confusion. “Here?”

Nico smirked again and tugged on Will’s hand. There wasn’t really any option but to follow the son of Hades so he did. Nico led him through the twisting tunnels like he knew exactly where he was going. Not even in that child of the Underworld way or as someone who had explored the Labyrinth before. No, Will was certain Nico had walked this particular path recently.

There was a draft of fresh air and beam of sunlight up ahead. Unconsciously, Will sped their pace toward it. Soon enough they stepped outside the Labyrinth.

Before them was sprawling mountains coated in deep green like moss on a jagged rock. Misty clouds drifted in the chilled air. Terraced ruins stood as a testament to a long-ago city of a lost civilization.

“Is this Machu Picchu?”

“It is.”

“So we’re in Peru. As in the place Chiron told us not to go.”

“I did tell you we were coming here.” Nico began walking again, wordlessly cajoling Will into movement. “And if Chiron wanted me to follow the rules, he shouldn’t have called this a _death_ race. It gives me permission to do whatever I want.”  

Will shook his head. “And I’m sure you’ve told him that.”

It didn’t take long at all for a yellow checkered blanket and an old fashioned picnic basket to come into view. Sitting atop said basket was a golden apple, their third golden apple. Will looked back at his boyfriend, completely flabbergasted.

“You planned this. How did you even manage it? Why?”

“Peru was the Labyrinth’s idea. I just wanted a nice place for a picnic. I didn’t mean for that mess this morning to happen but I had to cover my tracks. I think Chiron suspects me anyway. As for why…” Pink flushed across Nico’s cheeks. “You’ve been worried and stressed about Cecil and the others. And then your dad showed up with his _situation_. I wanted to give you some time to just relax.”

“So you broke rules, cheated at a camp game, and caused half a dozen satyrs and Chiron a huge headache. All so you could surprise me with a picnic date.”

“Yes?”

“I’m dating a romantic dork.” Will couldn’t stop grinning. “Does anyone else know how much of a romantic you really are?”

Nico glared at him in reply, all dark eyes and messy hair. The son of Hades, as he’d once again proven, did nothing in half-measures.    

On an impulse Will leaned forward and pressed his lips against Nico’s. Caught off-guard, Nico tensed for a half-second before melting against him and returning the kiss.  

“Don’t worry”, Will said once they parted, “I’ll be happy to keep your dorky romantic side a secret between us.”

Later they would return to the Labyrinth with three golden apples in hand and immediately realize something had gone very wrong when they exited in the forest instead of the meadow. Will would have to heal the many injured campers, all the while knowing his younger siblings were missing and that there was nothing he could do to help them.

For now though, the couple had the peaceful moments of a picnic atop an ancient city.


End file.
